


Bigger Things Ahead

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Prompt Fills 2018 [26]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 13:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14749961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers ensemble, going to Peter's high school graduation."Aunt May POV.





	Bigger Things Ahead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SherlockianSyndromes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockianSyndromes/gifts).



Peter’s graduation day dawned sunny and bright. May woke up and realized: today was the day. Peter was done with high school. He’d be moving out and going to college, probably on Tony Stark’s dime. He’d call once in a while, email, text, maybe even respond to the occasional Instagram or Snapchat prod from her. But he wasn’t her little boy anymore.

And he’d never really been _her_ little boy anyway, not really. Her heart broke when she thought of her brilliant brother-in-law who she saw more and more of in Peter every day, and his sweet wife, who was in Peter’s smile and his desire to help people and his determination to do what was right. Neither of them got to be here to see Peter’s big day.

And neither did May’s beloved Ben.

She and Ben had taken the torch from Peter’s real parents and done the things parents should, fed him and clothed him and helped him with his schoolwork (for a while, till his schoolwork was beyond even them), cared about him and listened to him, gave him rules to keep him safe and stood firm when he told them he hated them and it wasn’t _fair._ They had been his parents in every way that mattered, but they had never been able to replace his real parents.

Peter had to go early, because of course he had to go early, because he and Ned had volunteered to help with the effects for the ceremony, whatever that meant (likely something head-spinning that involved computers). May rosed, showered, dressed, had breakfast. She wanted to look good for the graduation photos, so she spent a bit of extra time on her makeup. She would sit with Ned’s family, and they would cheer for their boys together.

She took the train downtown to Peter’s school, and she followed the stream of proud parents, relatives, friends, and other well-wishers and supporters into the auditorium, paused to accept a printed program on heavy linen paper. Immediately she flipped it open to look for Peter’s name, drifting into the auditorium. She smiled when she found it. There, in black and white. Proof that his childhood was over.

(She tried not to think about how it might have ended with his parents died, or when his uncle died, or -)

She lifted her head, scanned the audience for Ned’s family. She spotted Ned’s mother and started toward her, and then a tall, tall man with dark blond hair and blue eyes who was all-American handsome approached her. He wore a conservative dark suit. Something about him was familiar. Was he another parent? May loved Ben, but she was neither blind nor dead, and she was pretty sure she’d remember a man this attractive.

“Ma’am,” he said, with a certain old-fashioned deference in his tone, “we’d be honored if you sat with us.”

And then May recognized him. He was _Captain America._

After she’d caught Peter in his Spider-Man outfit and made him tell her _everything,_ she had been so focused on keeping him safe that she hadn’t really thought through the ramifications of him being, well, Spider-Man. But apparently it meant he was friends with Captain America.

The man had been a wanted criminal for a hot second there, but now apparently everything was fine. He was forgiven. Everyone with superpowers was forgiven.

May eyed him. He, like Tony Stark, _enabled_ Peter, who was a _child,_ to run around the city and fight crime.

Except today was Peter’s big day, the day that meant he wasn’t a child anymore.

(Perhaps he’d ceased being a child the day he got his super powers.)

“Who’s _us?”_

“Natasha Romanov. Dr. Bruce Banner. Dr. Stephen Strange. Wanda Maximoff. Scott Lang. Peter Quill. Clint Barton. Thor Odinson. Sam Wilson. Rhodey Rhodes. I understand you already know Tony Stark. Viz Jarvis. Bucky Barnes. And, ah, T’Challa, King of Wakanda. And his, um, bodyguards.”

May craned her neck to peer past Captain America and saw a group of people, most of whom were wearing formal suits, some of whom were wearing bright foreign clothing, all of whom were unfairly attractive.

Also, _holy shit_ the _King of Wakanda._

But then May remembered herself, and she turned her glare on Captain America.

He ducked his head, blushing faintly, and said, “I just - I remember what it was like. Just me and my ma, growing up. She was the only family I had at graduation, beside Buck and his folks.”

Suddenly he wasn’t Captain America, he was a man who’d been raised by a single woman, who’d lived through the Great Depression and struggled for things she couldn’t imagine having to struggle for.

Then she saw Dr. Bruce Banner shaking hands with Ned’s parents and beckoning them and their family over to a couple rows of chairs that had been unofficially reserved by the King of Wakanda’s fierce and beautiful bodyguards.

Ned’s mother spotted May and waved.

“Fine,” she said. “Only because it’s Peter’s big day and he _likes_ you people even though you _almost get him killed_ on a regular basis and -”

Oh no, she was crying. No, no, no.

In an instant, another man was at her side, this man with chin-length dark hair, bright blue eyes, and a dark beard. He offered her a handkerchief monogrammed with _JBB._

“I’m sorry, Miss. I don’t know what my friend said, but -”

“Buck,” Captain America protested.

“Today is an emotional day,” May said finally. “I need to go fix my makeup so I look good for Peter’s photos. Excuse me.”

She ducked away from Captain America and Sergeant Bucky Barnes of the Howling Commandos and headed to the bathroom to bawl her eyes out, splash cold water on her face to reduce the swelling, and redo her makeup.

Once she was presentable - once she was the hottest aunt _ever_ \- she headed back out to the auditorium and sat beside Ned’s mother at the end of a row of chairs that Ned’s family was sharing with The Avengers.

As much as she wanted to scream at Tony Stark, something in her heart soared when all of The Avengers cheered when Peter’s name was announced and he crossed the stage to receive his diploma. After all the diplomas had been presented, the graduates tossed their caps, and then the ceremony was over and it was time for hugs and photos.

Peter found May first, hugged her tightly, held her for a long moment.

“Thanks, May,” he breathed.

She held him just as tightly. “Congratulations, Peter.”

“Love you, May.”

Her voice caught in her throat. He’d stopped saying that easily the day his parents died.

But then Ned was hugging her and Ned’s mother was hugging Peter, and Ned’s uncle was shouting for people to move closer together so they all fit into the picture.

May was unscrewing her smile after posing for seemingly a thousand pictures and she realized - The Avengers were all gone. They’d disappeared. Which some of them could do literally, May remembered.

Once all the photos were done, Peter told Ned he was taking May out to a real nice lunch to say thank you, and then he’d see Ned for the big graduation party.

Ned nodded, and Peter went to lead May out of the auditorium, only before they reached the main doors, one of the King of Wakanda’s beautiful bodyguards stepped out of the shadows.

“Peter, Mrs. Parker, your presence is requested in Peter’s old homeroom.”

Peter glanced at Aunt May. She nodded, so Peter nodded at the woman and said,

“Lay on, Nakia.”

She smiled at him, and wow, she could have been a supermodel. She led Peter and May through the hallways with unerring accuracy to Peter’s old homeroom.

Where, of course, all of The Avengers were gathered.

Peter pushed the door open. Some of them were leaning on the desks, others sitting on them, some of them standing. Tony Stark was front and center.

“C’mon in, kid, Aunt May.”

Peter moved to stand in front of Tony Stark and dragged May with him.

“We brought you some presents,” Tony said.

Peter’s eyes lit up, and Tony added hastily, “That are completely unrelated to crime-fighting.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Team?”

One man handed Peter a Walkman with old-fashioned headphones attached. “I made you a copy of my Awesome Mix Volume One.”

“Wow, this is so old-school! Thanks, Mr. Quill!” Peter hugged him, then stepped back, popped the tape deck open experimentally.

“Enjoy,” Peter Quill said, grinning. He gave Peter a high five.

A red-headed woman stepped forward. She handed Peter a beautiful leather satchel. “Here. You will need this for university in the fall.” She had a curious accent - Eastern European? Of course - she was the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff. “It has your initials on it, just in case someone should take a liking to it.”

Peter smoothed a hand over the beautiful red-brown leather. The metal fastenings on it were burnished gold, looked fancy and sturdy. “Wow, thank you! It looks awesome.” He slipped the strap over his head and tested it. “Oh hey, it’s full of stuff!” He opened the flap and poked through the contents.

Thor said, “T’Challa, Tony, and Bruce collaborated to give you an ultralight tablet that never runs out of energy, but I have also included an Asgardian endless codex and endless quill so that you will always have enough pages and ink to write what you need.”

Peter blinked. “That - that’s really cool. Thanks, Thor.”

Thor added, a little sulkily, “I was informed that a never-ending drinking horn was an inappropriate gift for someone your age.”

“You were informed correctly,” May said.

“I put a very thorough first-aid kit in there,” Dr. Strange said, and he winked at May.

Peter nodded. “Very practical, sir. I dig it.”

The rest of the gifts included a cookbook from Bucky and Steve full of Depression-Era and battlefield recipes that were quick and easy and actually pretty tasty, a lockpick set from Scott lest he get locked out of his dorm room, a small toolbox from Clint so he could effectuate simple repairs around his dorm room or hang pictures, a set of rubber squishy animals that Peter could use as stress balls during finals from Rhodey, and a nice pair of running shoes from Sam and Natasha.

At the end of it all, Viz produced a cupcake with a little _congrats grad!_ cupcake topper.

Tony reached out, squeezed Peter’s shoulder. “Good job, kid. And good luck out there.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, his expression solemn, something passing between them that May didn’t understand.

“Now go,” Tony said. “Enjoy your lunch.” He met May’s gaze, and she nodded.

“Thank you for coming to support Peter on his big day,” she said.

Peter submitted to a final round of handshakes, gathered up his gifts as best as he could. May helped him carry anything that didn’t fit in his new bag or in his arms, and together the two of them headed out into the bright New York sunlight.

Today was Peter’s big day, but he had bigger things ahead of him, and whether or not May liked it, those Avengers were part of what was to come.


End file.
